Gabriel stood inside the Holy Church of Light, feeling extremely weird. The people who were supposed to be his enemies had their heads lowered before him as they treated him respectfully. However, he also understood why that was the case.
The Holy Book of Light now belonged to him. Even though he hadn't checked any spells in the Holy Book yet, it didn't change the fact that he was supposedly the new Holy Lord of Light as well as the leader of the Church of Light.
He also knew that it was all superficial. The Head Priests of Light only respected him because they thought he was someone who could lead them to hear heights against their enemies now that he was selected as the Holy Lord.
It didn't take a genius to guess what their reaction was going to be if they found out who Gabriel really was.
Gabriel was quite fortunate that even the strongest person inside the Church of Light was only a Head Priest who couldn't see through the illusion at all. That wasn't the case for the other Holy Lords. He could've fooled these Head Priests, but he couldn't fool the other Holy Lords if they ever came to meet the Holy Lord of Light.
Let alone the fact that his illusions were useless against the other Holy Lords, just his aura alone was enough to let them know who he really was.
"Follow us," The oldest Head Priest told Gabriel as he left the room.
Gabriel didn't have much choice but to follow them. He went after the old Priest. The other Head Priests followed Gabriel from behind.
At this point, it looked as if all his routes of escape were sealed by the Head Priests who walked around him with him in the center. Fortunately, there was no hostility yet.
"My name is Qian," the old Head Priest told Gabriel while walking in the lead. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions at this point. For example, what just happened?"
Gabriel didn't answer. He already knew what happened, but he didn't tell them.
"As you must've heard, we were looking for a Holy Child to train under the Holy Lord? At least that's the news we spread," Qian responded even as Gabriel didn't reply. "However, that was not the truth."
None of what the old man said came as a surprise. Gabriel remained unreactive.
"What is the truth then?" he asked.
Qian seemed somewhat fascinated as he heard the calmness in Gabriel's voice. He couldn't help but take another glance at the young man behind him. Usually, any ordinary youngster would've been flustered with no information about what happened. However, Gabriel was still calm and composed.
"Maybe the Grimoire really didn't select a bad person," he muttered. "He isn't as strong as us, or as talented as Eliana, but he does have some qualities of his own."
No matter how much Qian wanted to be the next Holy Lord, they couldn't force it. The Holy Grimoire had rejected them. Now they could only accept the decision unless Gabriel made some grave mistakes in the future.
"The truth is something that we kept hidden from the outsiders for a long time," Qian explained, scratching his chin. "The truth is that we weren't looking for a Holy Child. Instead, we were looking for a Holy Lord."
"Ever since our Holy Lord died a few years ago, we told everyone that the Holy Book has already selected the next Holy Lord for our protection. Since then, we've been walking on a thin rope with all the lies and stories to keep this information hidden. We also waited for the Holy Book to start selecting a candidate again."
The Head Priests were already very tired after hiding this information for a long time. It had been very hard on them throughout the years. Unfortunately, they had no choice. The Church of Light had always been very overbearing and they had a lot of enemies.
Even though openly no one dared to offend them, there were many who were waiting to strike as soon as they were given an opportunity. That's why they had to hide! Only a Holy Lord could've acted as a deterrent after all.
"By now, you probably guessed what happened today. The White Book that you saw before is the Holy Book of Light, also known as the Holy Grimoire of Light. It has selected you. That means you're our new Holy Lord and we'll do everything we can to train you so that you can stand atop this world to take your rightful place!" Qian exclaimed.
Gabriel didn't know how to react. He could just shake his head lightly. Even though these people spoke such heavy words, he knew the truth. On the inside, they were just greedy for their own benefits. As long as they could raise a Holy Lord, they could go back to their overbearing ways of the last.
Moreover, let alone helping him stand on top of the world, as long as the truth about him was out, they would probably do everything within their means to destroy his body and his soul altogether so the Holy Grimoire of Light could've been free of his control. There was no way they would've trained him!
"Do you have a family?" Qian asked for some reason.
"Why do you want to know?"
"If you have a family, we can shift them here to keep them safe. It's the responsibility of the Church after all," the Head Priest answered.
At the time, no one knew that Gabriel was the new Holy Lord. However, that wasn't going to be the case forever. The Church of Light didn't want anyone to get control of Gabriel's family since that could have been his weakness! They had to protect the weakness of their new Lord if there was any.
"I don't have a family," Gabriel replied. "I'm an orphan."
"That's great!" Qian exclaimed, only to realize that his words might've been inappropriate. "Cough, I mean it's great that you've been able to come so far all on your own. You're very talented."
"Don't you still have a wife though?" Just as Qian was satisfied that Gabriel was all alone, another Head Priest chimed in. He was also the one who brought Gabriel inside the Church.
When he saw Gabriel at the entrance of the City, he had heard Avilia mention that she was his wife. He still remembered that.
"How do you know that?" Qian asked his old friend.
"Because she came with him and mentioned it. She is still outside if I'm not wrong!" White haired Yaze answered.
"What are you waiting for then? Since she's his only family member, let's bring her inside." Qian turned around. "Let's bring your wife back as well. I'm sure she'd be surprised."
Instead of going deeper into the Church, he went toward the exit. He didn't go alone and brought Gabriel and others with him as well.
